diff --git a/test/stress/http_test.go b/test/stress/http_test.go
index 32c0751b..9939507a 100644
--- a/test/stress/http_test.go
+++ b/test/stress/http_test.go
@@ -30,10 +30,12 @@ func TestHTTPStress(t *testing.T) {
 
 	stopPortForward := StartPortForward("http-main-0")
 	defer stopPortForward()
+
+	WaitForService()
+
 	stopMetricsLogger := StartMetricsLogger()
 	defer stopMetricsLogger()
 
-	WaitForService()
 	n := 10000
 	PumpHTTP("http://http-main/sources/default", "my-msg", n, 0)
 	WaitForStep(TotalSunkMessages(n))
diff --git a/test/stress/kafka_test.go b/test/stress/kafka_test.go
index 6a215cbe..1c76e47c 100644
--- a/test/stress/kafka_test.go
+++ b/test/stress/kafka_test.go
@@ -31,10 +31,12 @@ func TestKafkaStress(t *testing.T) {
 
 	stopPortForward := StartPortForward("kafka-main-0")
 	defer stopPortForward()
+
+	WaitForPod()
+
 	stopMetricsLogger := StartMetricsLogger()
 	defer stopMetricsLogger()
 
-	WaitForPod()
 	n := 10000
 	PumpKafkaTopic(topic, n, 0)
 	WaitForStep(TotalSunkMessages(n))
diff --git a/test/stress/stan_test.go b/test/stress/stan_test.go
index 6262f473..67700edf 100644
--- a/test/stress/stan_test.go
+++ b/test/stress/stan_test.go
@@ -31,10 +31,12 @@ func TestStanStress(t *testing.T) {
 
 	stopPortForward := StartPortForward("stan-main-0")
 	defer stopPortForward()
+
+	WaitForPod()
+
 	stopMetricsLogger := StartMetricsLogger()
 	defer stopMetricsLogger()
 
-	WaitForPod()
 	n := 10000
 	PumpStanSubject("argo-dataflow-system.stan."+subject, n, 0)
 	WaitForStep(TotalSunkMessages(n))